Powerless
Powerless is an American television sitcom that aired on Syndication from February 2 to April 20, 2017. The series had a total of 12 episodes (with 3 remaining not aired). The series was cancelled on May 12, 2017, after pulling off the air. Summary Powerless takes place in the DC Universe and follows the adventures of Emily Locke as Director of Research & Development at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises based in Charm City, that specializes in products for ordinary humans who are poised to be victims of the battles between superheroes and supervillains. The storylines in the television series are not directly based on storylines in the DC comic franchise, including the Batman franchise. Rather the premise imagines stories that run parallel to the plots in the comic franchise. Cast * Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke * Danny Pudi as Teddy * Christina Kirk as Jackie * Ron Funches as Ron * Alan Tudyk as Vanderveer "Van" Wayne * Jennie Pierson as Wendy Production In January of 2016, it was reported that Syndication gave the pilot order for "Powerless". In February of 2016, the main cast was announced: Vanessa Hudgens as the main character, Emily Locke, Danny Pudi as Teddy, Alan Tudyk as Van and Christina Kirk as Jackie. In July 2016, Ron Funches joined the cast as Ron. In August of 2016, it was reported that Ben Queen had departed as showrunner. On April 25, 2017, Syndication pulled the final three episodes of the series from its schedule, with no indication of if they would be rescheduled at a later date. Segue shots of Charm City feature a western view of the Cleveland skyline with fictional buildings, including the skyscraper headquarters of Wayne Security, occupying the foreground. The episode "Emergency Punch-Up" was mistakenly aired instead of "Van v Emily: Dawn of Justice" in Canada, several regions of the US and on the Syndication website, the running order had been changed because of the prominence of a chemical gas attack in the episode which similarly occurred in Syria just before the episode was aired. The episode "Win, Luthor, Draw" was subsequently released on DC Comics' YouTube channel on June 16, 2017, six days after West's death. Reception After the original pilot for "Powerless" was shown at Comic Con 2016, reviews were generally positive. Eric Goldman of IGN gave it a 7.5/10 saying "it's very endearing and amusing and has me looking forward to seeing where it can go". Sydney Bucksbaum of Nerdist praised the pilot episode, saying it's "the superhero comedy we deserve" and "Fans of comic books, office comedy, rom-coms or just having a good laugh, Powerless is for you." After the pilot episode aired at SDCC 2016, series creator Ben Queen departed the series, after which it was given a new premise and almost the entire episode was reshot. The reviews for the second pilot episode of "Powerless" were much less positive. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 64% critic approval rating with an average rating of 5.36/10 based on 33 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Powerless has a strong premise leaving room for improvement -- and strong performances from a talented cast -- but the show's initial spark is dimmed by uneven execution and a lack of laughs." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 26 reviews) indicating "mixed or average reviews". Jesse Scheiden of IGN gave the pilot episode a 4.2/10 saying, "there's a lot of potential in that idea, but very little of it is realized here" calling the script "lousy" and calling the show "generic". Yahoo's Dominic Patten called the show "a charming comedy with legs and a smart premise". The opening credits, which were part of the original pilot and which use classic artists like Carmine Infantino, were praised by Yahoo's Ken Tucker, saying "the credits aren't funny, they're just beautiful" while Sonia Saraiya praised the cast, particularly Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke calling her performance charming, and Tudyk's performance as "the standout". Additionally, she said she is optimistic about the show, saying that "there’s a light, nimble humor to the show’s treatment of superpowers and heroic antics — a much needed respite". After the first two episodes were panned by critics, the third and fourth episodes received favorable reviews. Jesse Scheden of IGN gave "Sinking Day" a 7.2/10, saying that "the show improves enough in its third episode to leave hope that the show will eventually realize its full potential". About the fourth episode "Emily dates a Henchman", Jesse Scheden gave it an 8/10 saying that "the show still isn't particularly deep, and it still struggles to take advantage of every member of the main cast, it is developing into an entertainingly goofy take on the DC Universe". External links * Powerless on Wikipedia Category:2010s television shows Category:2017 debuts Category:2017 endings Category:Concluded series Category:2017 Category:Syndication